Sally Gorton, wife of former GOP Sen. Slade Gorton, who was overheard gushing to friends after a private photo-taking session with the president said that the president was "in rare form." Reichert later informed the group that Bush "wanted to have fun" at the reception.

The event raised at least $500,000 for Reichert and the state Republican Party.

The Domenici event, held behind closed doors, brought in at least $430,000, an amount that had Domenici chief of staff Steve Bell marveling. "We didn't think we'd raise this much, with the president in the 30s approval in our state," he said.

He said the good news, though, was marred severely by the news of the death of the 40-year-old, the father of two.

President Bush has yet to attend a funeral for a single one of the 3,732 US fatalities to date in his wars. Issue statements written by others while not smirking; mostly no problem. And then *sings*Presidents just want to have fun*sings*.

The man utterly lacks empathy. He is incapable of putting himself in another's skin. All that exists for Bush is himself and the very few around him who feed his pathologies.